A video originating from Purba Bardhaman, West Bengal, has surfaced on Instagram. The footage reveals a scene where Ajay (pseudonym for safety reasons), a class 11th student, was subjected to physical-verbal harassment by a group of 20 students
In the video, minor students from various schools in the district shout and push Ajay. It has been alleged that Ajay had made sarcastic comments about the Hindu religion, leading to this incident.
The Observer Post contacted Ajay, who says, “They believe I hurt their religion, so those boys just came bashing on me. The current screenshot circulated is from a private WhatsApp group, having only five members. The conversation happened last year in April. It’s too old to be taken seriously. It was just a private discourse among friends. None of the Whatsapp group members were present that day. I don’t understand who leaked the chats”
Ajay states that the unexpected release of the chats to the public was not supposed to happen and was not intended to be taken seriously.
“It’s common in Burdwan, goons harassing you for such stuff. Freedom of speech is entirely violated here. You can’t argue with such people either. They don’t know how to verbally tackle, all they know is to come at you physically,” he said.
At the end of the video, Ajay is seen saying, “Yes, I respect Hinduism, and I respect Hindu Gods. Of course, I don’t respect Islam”
“Whatever I said in the end was forced out of me. I was pressured to say all of it.”
Due to private reasons, Ajay has decided not to register a case against the perpetrators of the incident.
